Herbal Medicine for Preppers: Persimmon, Chinese Fir and Swamp Titi

[00:00:00] Hey all, welcome to this week's show. We will continue our series with medicinal trees. I'm

[00:00:06] going to actually be able to do three today because the first two are very brief. It's

[00:00:09] not a lot of use for them and one of them is a little hard to find. The other one,

[00:00:15] the third, is going to be persimmon which American persimmon grows pretty widespread

[00:00:21] range. You can probably find it in most places, maybe not the deserts but it's

[00:00:26] pretty common tree, very important fruit to early America. These days it's

[00:00:32] very underappreciated. It's actually quite delicious and it has some really good

[00:00:36] medicinal uses but we'll start with cutting Hamia Lancelotta. That's

[00:00:42] known as Chinese fir. It's naturalized by regis not native and all I know about

[00:00:48] this is Plants for Future says that Chinese fir is antidote and

[00:00:55] carminative. A decoction of the wood is used in the treatment of varnish

[00:01:00] poisoning caused by species of rous. I guess that's like poison like poison

[00:01:10] sumac maybe. Couldn't find any more information on that. Search for it but

[00:01:16] anyway. More commonly used for chronic ulcers and hernias. Essential oil from

[00:01:22] the plant has been used to treat bruises and pain, rheumatism of wounds. It's

[00:01:26] essentially used as a soak or diluted essential oil externally good for

[00:01:32] inflammation and bruising and the ash of the bark is used to treat burns, scalds

[00:01:38] and wounds and a decoction of the cone of the fir tree is used to treat coughs.

[00:01:43] Mostly external use apparently some internal use and I'm thinking that

[00:01:50] what they say used in the treatment of varnish poisoning from a species of

[00:01:55] rous that's going to be used as a wash as well. I don't think that's going to be

[00:01:59] used internally. You know it's a rash basically. So the other one is

[00:02:05] cerulea racemaphora commonly known as swap teedy that's T-I-T-I in case you

[00:02:14] have any question. It is it's an American plant only. There's only one member of

[00:02:23] this genus okay. You know in stark contrast to the Hawthorne we discussed

[00:02:29] last week this is the only one the only member of the genus

[00:02:33] cerulea. C-Y-R-I-L-L-A and its range is limited to the

[00:02:40] America's as I said it grows in coastal swamps extending about as far as

[00:02:43] the Piedmont or the center of any state on the coast. It's an attractive plant has

[00:02:49] white flowers and shiny evergreen leaves and the medicinal use is very limited but

[00:02:54] it's important. The bark is both absorbent and astringent so it's a if you can get

[00:03:01] some you know if you can find some it's one of the most useful plants to

[00:03:04] help stop bleeding because it will both astringe that tissue shrink the

[00:03:09] capillaries to stop the bleeding and absorb and help with clotting. Now the

[00:03:15] the main one we're going to get into is the common persimmon. Latin name for that

[00:03:20] is dias pyrus virginiana. Yeah as close as I'm gonna get to it dias pyrus but

[00:03:29] virginiana just means it was originally discovered in Virginia and it

[00:03:32] would have been the very among the very first edible fruit trees that

[00:03:37] European settlers you know probably Jamestown colony found and they are quite

[00:03:42] delicious persimmon it's found in in various forms sometimes the trees can

[00:03:48] be bigger or smaller of course you have your Asian persimmons which are much

[00:03:52] larger our native variety is a small fruit about the size of a I don't

[00:03:58] know marble you know very different from the Asian persimmons in the grocery

[00:04:04] store by the way our persimmons are an excellent fruit they're mild and they're

[00:04:08] absolutely sugary sweet but only when right now if you've ever eaten hey an

[00:04:13] unripe persimmon you know it is like the most bitter thing on the face of the

[00:04:17] earth it will pucker your mouth right persimmons are absolutely delicious

[00:04:20] eating fresh out of hand baked into a fruit bread or cake one of my favorite

[00:04:25] ways to use them when you do that you want to take those perfectly ripe I

[00:04:29] mean these persimmons are turned purple now they're not soft pink they can be a

[00:04:34] little pinky purple the purple or and mushier they are the riper and sweeter

[00:04:39] they are but they have these little seeds and specs little brown specs inside

[00:04:44] and if you cook them into a preserve or anything cook them in a bread that will

[00:04:49] make me just as bitter as they were when they were when they were unripe

[00:04:54] so you have to press them through a sieve it's a tea strainer any kind of screen

[00:05:00] to remove those specs and seeds and then you have just like the sweetest most

[00:05:06] delicious root there is really popular in early America or they would they

[00:05:12] would make them into breads mostly and when the bread's got stale and dried

[00:05:17] they break them up and boil them in water and make a persimmon beer out of

[00:05:22] this is just a real staple people prized these scrubby little trees and they kept

[00:05:27] people from starving and I mean throughout the Revolution Civil War

[00:05:31] they kept our ancestors alive and but now people don't really value them I

[00:05:37] mean they look at them as you know a tree to get rid of which is ridiculous

[00:05:40] it's a small tree about size of the dogwood usually likes the edges of the

[00:05:45] woods and can usually be found around old fields and rose sides it grows

[00:05:49] crooked and knobbly and I mean really modern ignorance is the only reason we

[00:05:55] don't value this tree as much as we used to yeah well and the persimmon the fruit

[00:05:59] ripens later than any other fruit that I'm aware of traditionally it said that

[00:06:03] you shouldn't eat persimmons till after the first frost problem with that is

[00:06:08] that many will be lost to deer and raccoons and possums by that time

[00:06:12] because they don't mind them being a little bit bitter but I still I do rate

[00:06:18] to harvest them but hey those are I mean I scout those trees also for game I mean

[00:06:26] the deer that will stand on their hind legs and eat persimmons the squirrels

[00:06:30] that get all over there raccoons and possums are very they're very best if

[00:06:35] they've been feeding on persimmons as opposed to other times a year when

[00:06:39] they might be feeding on trash or something right they just kind of pull

[00:06:44] off easily from the stem they'll drop on their own with any in any little

[00:06:48] bit of breeze and I'm you know it's I love them honestly I really enjoy

[00:06:53] gathering go out on like a chilly out October afternoon and bring them in and

[00:07:00] I mean the smell of the dry hardwood leaves just it's nice you know and you

[00:07:06] can scout for game and such and the like I said you definitely remove those

[00:07:13] seeds definitely remove the seeds and the the specs that's the only way I know

[00:07:21] to describe them if you're going to cook them if you're just eating them fresh

[00:07:25] out of hand just don't eat the seeds but they combine really well with pumpkin

[00:07:29] pumpkin and persimmon bread fantastic sweet potatoes and pumpkins raisins dried

[00:07:35] cranberries you know really our ancestors at least where I live used to live

[00:07:42] off possums and raccoons and a big they'd actually you know catch possums and

[00:07:48] raisin in cages or a pit out back like chickens to make sure that they had been

[00:07:53] eating clean and have a good flavor and they would feed them persimmons apples

[00:07:57] maybe some pecans and such and really the I guess the most traditional way of

[00:08:05] cooking a raccoon or a possum well can often is grilled like basically

[00:08:12] barbecued but roast in the oven with you know sweet potatoes and persimmons and

[00:08:18] you know apples and such that and the fat you know kind of mixes in there and

[00:08:23] makes a really nice sauce you little sweet and savory with some onions and

[00:08:27] you know that was that was a dish that would be on anybodies table with some

[00:08:35] cornbread from I mean George Washington loved his persimmons and wild game as

[00:08:41] it would have been you know more small gamer could have been a deer roast or

[00:08:46] maybe turkey stuffed with the same ingredients or a bear roast or something

[00:08:51] but yeah I mean he was real big into persimmon as a fruit and persimmon beer

[00:08:58] in fact in I think if I'm not mistaken Martha Washington's cookbook

[00:09:02] there's a persimmon beer recipe so I mean I was just it was a ubiquitous

[00:09:07] fruit in early America but let's get into the medicinal uses and also I gotta

[00:09:13] say persimmon leaves are beautiful they turn bright red I mean if you don't have

[00:09:17] one of these trees growing your property plant one you're gonna be really

[00:09:20] glad you did really really glad you did Kings American dispensatory of 1898

[00:09:26] tells us medicinal uses tonic and astringent the bark has been used

[00:09:32] in intermittent that means it helps with malarial fevers it would be a substitute

[00:09:39] for quinine that's another one of those things we want to look at you know with

[00:09:41] COVID and different pandemics or whatever threatening both it and the

[00:09:47] unripe fruit have been beneficial in various forms of disease of the

[00:09:50] bowels chronic dysentery uterine hemorrhages is said as stringent it

[00:09:56] you know tightens up the tissue stops bleeding or diarrhea or you know

[00:10:01] whatever used an infusion syrup or a venous tincture the proportion of one

[00:10:08] ounce of the bruise fruit to two fluid ounces that's going to be basically

[00:10:12] take some vodka and steep some fruit in it okay that's all they're saying I mean

[00:10:15] that sounds fancy but it's actually a doctor would have done that a pharmacist

[00:10:20] would have done that it would be just that simple so one ounce of bruise

[00:10:24] fruit to two fluid ounces of the vehicle they say which actually means

[00:10:27] like a high proof vodka I usually use regular 80 proof 40% but you know they

[00:10:33] would have had access to well you can use everclear if you want I don't think

[00:10:37] it's necessary just use a little more fruit you know if needs if need be the

[00:10:42] infusion may be used as a gargle for an ulcerated sore throat one fluid no a

[00:10:48] half fluid ounce or more given to adults a little bit less for infants

[00:10:55] essentially when the ripe fruit is very palatable pelletable that means it's

[00:11:00] tasty as it matures at a time when the fruits are generally departing for the

[00:11:04] season means all the other fruits are gone that's when persimmons are coming

[00:11:07] in the cultivation of this tree would be a valuable a set a valuable addition to

[00:11:13] our ultimatal fruits they even said this in a medical journal they were

[00:11:17] encouraging people to to grow persimmons and they put as an end note

[00:11:23] a kind of brandy is obtained by distillation of the fermented infusion

[00:11:27] in other words you make persimmon wine and then they what they consider to be a

[00:11:31] brandy so nice this was put in an actual official American dispensatory

[00:11:36] which is what pharmacist and doctors would have used you know so that's how

[00:11:40] value the tree was by our ancestors according to plants for future

[00:11:44] persimmon is an appetizer it means the the slight bitterness of the fruit

[00:11:50] even when fully ripe it is have a slight bitterness which balances out the sugary

[00:11:54] sweetness it stimulates appetite the stem bark is a stringent and

[00:12:01] stippic the fruit is said to have different properties depending on the

[00:12:05] stage of rightness though it is generally anti-tussive which means it

[00:12:08] like robitussin right it means it helps stop cough a stringent laxative

[00:12:13] nutritive and stomatic so nutritious and good for the stomach stomach and has

[00:12:18] plenty of fiber the fresh fruit the fresh fully ripe fruit is used raw in the

[00:12:24] treatment of constipation hemorrhoids and when cooked is used for diarrhea the

[00:12:28] dried ripe fruit is used in the treatment of bronchial complaints I

[00:12:31] totally forgot to even mention about drying fruit that was a staple for

[00:12:36] early America they would take those perfectly ripe persimmons get the

[00:12:39] seeds out open them up and let them dry usually over like a wood stove or

[00:12:44] near the fireplace and that would have been just a staple in cooking

[00:12:48] throughout the winter keep vitamin C in the system some fiber when they needed

[00:12:53] it and they can make those fruit cakes and you know

[00:12:56] fruit cakes get a really bad rap these days because we think of that like

[00:12:59] weird neon colored disgusting stuff they still in stores around Christmas real

[00:13:05] fruit cakes are dried fruits and nuts and honey and cooked into a good cake

[00:13:11] with a lot of butter and soaked down and brandy really truly well definitely

[00:13:16] with walnuts and pecans one of the very best things and honestly if you don't

[00:13:23] like fruit cake get an old recipe from before they started using that nasty

[00:13:28] neon colored citron crap and cook one of those bake one of those get your wife

[00:13:34] to bake one of those if you don't bake gonna be one of the best things

[00:13:38] you've ever eaten and that was the ancient power bar you know when my

[00:13:44] ancestors under King Richard Lionheart marched into the crusades they carried

[00:13:50] fruit cakes with them they were totally preserved in the brandy and they were

[00:13:53] full of calories and a real nice treat I mean they were valued more than gold

[00:13:59] they were had full of the fruits and nuts and spices like clove and and

[00:14:04] cinnamon and you know various imported spices that they could get and soaked

[00:14:10] down with brandy and we usually dip in wine as they were eating and I mean yeah

[00:14:15] that was a camp meal I could get behind that seriously I mean honestly there's

[00:14:21] one of my favorite things is an honest to God real fruit cake not that crap

[00:14:28] in the grocery store that is that is as far from being a real fruit cake as

[00:14:32] I don't know Taylor Swift is from being Donald Trump I mean yeah anyway but the

[00:14:40] dried fruits were used to treat cough and the juice from the unripe fruit was

[00:14:45] said to treat a for said to be a treatment for hypertension I don't know how

[00:14:51] anybody could get that down but I guess if you had really high blood pressure it

[00:14:55] was worth a try the fruits picked green and ripened and contained the fruits

[00:15:00] picked green and ripened in containers with the leaves become very sweet and are

[00:15:06] considered to be anti-febrile anti-venous and a demulsant so I have not tried

[00:15:11] actually artificially ripening the fruits I'll do that this year get some

[00:15:16] green fruits and put them in a jar with the leaves and apparently they ripen

[00:15:20] just like they would on the tree that's a great tip anti-febrile means

[00:15:24] would help the fevers and anti well you know demulsant softening I think we

[00:15:31] covered the other before the fruits are also peeled and then exposed to sunlight

[00:15:37] by day and do by night well never heard of that either if they if you do that

[00:15:44] they become encrusted they become encrusted with a white powder and are

[00:15:49] then considered to be anti-thelmetic anti-hemorrhagic and anti-venous

[00:15:54] expectant febrile fusion restorative well that's interesting that white powder

[00:15:58] would likely be yeast you know there's yeast in the air that's kind of how you

[00:16:03] start a sourdough starter you can either use the white powder off of grapes or

[00:16:07] you're getting geese from the air and yeah people did used to do that let

[00:16:13] the dew evening do get on it it's not done much anymore but this very

[00:16:18] interesting apparently that yeast has some additional properties as well and the

[00:16:23] peduncle is used to treat costs of hiccups I don't even know what a peduncle

[00:16:28] is part of a plant the calyx is used to treat hiccups that's part of the

[00:16:33] flowers so Peterson Field Guide of the eastern and central medicinal plants

[00:16:39] tells us the inner bark tea is highly estranged in folk use uses a gargle for

[00:16:46] sore throats and flush thrush I'm sorry thrush you know like that rash that you

[00:16:50] can get if you take to me antibiotics bark tea once used as a folk it's you

[00:16:57] know the the rash around the mouth you know babies get it sometimes bark tea

[00:17:01] once used as a folk remedy for stomach aches heartburn diary and

[00:17:05] dysentery and uterine hemorrhage the bark tea was used as a wash or

[00:17:09] poultice for warts and cancers by they they mean ulcerated sores they

[00:17:14] don't mean like actual cancer fruits edible but a stringent before ripening

[00:17:20] best after frost seed oil is suggestive of peanut oil in flavor now that's

[00:17:25] interesting as well I never thought of using the seed to make an oil this is

[00:17:31] warning contains tannins it could be potentially toxic in large amounts and

[00:17:35] that would be really large amounts I mean they're tannins and everything from

[00:17:39] apple skins to grape juice wine you know tannins or just tannic acid but you

[00:17:44] know if you used enough the toy where you could like tan leather yeah that would

[00:17:48] not be good for you so very very useful tree had totally not thought about

[00:17:53] using the seeds press them for oil as a really good idea another traditional

[00:17:59] folk use of persimmon is to cut the seed in half and use that to predict the

[00:18:05] weather it was said to tell you how bad the winter was going to be so lots of

[00:18:10] folk use beautiful tree really unique flavor and like I said I mean fruit

[00:18:21] bread done with persimmons persimmon and pumpkin game meat roasted with those

[00:18:28] vegetables and fruit it's all so good and I mean I am so gonna dry some of

[00:18:35] these and use when a fruit cake I mean I'm literally salivating right now and

[00:18:39] it's only it's April so I got well six months to go before I can even harvest

[00:18:46] any and last year I didn't get a this year I'm gonna get a ton and now that

[00:18:52] I've you know I had not even thought about using them in half the ways

[00:18:56] that these books suggest and man I mean I can't wait to make some persimmon beer

[00:19:02] and maybe somebody you know that I know might make me a little brandy off of it

[00:19:07] not saying I know somebody but I might know somebody you'll have a good one

[00:19:14] and I will talk to you next time the information this podcast is not intended

[00:19:21] to diagnose retreat any disease or condition nothing I say or write has

[00:19:25] been evaluated or approved by the FDA I'm not a doctor the US government does

[00:19:30] not recognize the practice of verbal medicine and there is no governing body

[00:19:34] regulating her bliss therefore I'm really just a guy who studies herbs I'm not

[00:19:38] offering any advice I don't even claim that anything I write or say is

[00:19:41] accurate or true I can tell you what hers have been traditionally used for I

[00:19:46] can tell you my own experience and if I believe in her to help me I cannot

[00:19:50] or would I tell you to say if you use an herb anyone recommends you are treating

[00:19:55] yourself you take full responsibility for your health humans are individuals and

[00:20:00] no two are identical what works for me may not work for you you may have an

[00:20:04] allergy a sensitivity and underlying condition that no one else even shares

[00:20:09] and you don't even know about be careful with your health by continuing

[00:20:13] to list my podcast or read my blog you agree to be responsible for

[00:20:16] yourself to your own research make your own choices and not to blame me for

[00:20:20] anything ever